More facts. Rockets driving exact same number as Thunder. The FT disparity is astounding. Especially in crunch time. Brothers rigged that 2nd half.
Are they driving and finishing or driving and kicking out? If that data is only including driving with a shot at the rim than yes we absolutely need to talk about this. If it including all of the driving and kicking out for 3 well that’s a different story.
Rockets need to drive to the hole and take the shot. too many times they kick it out for 3 - yes I get the idea/system... but if you can’t just get a close or mid range bucket in crunch time... how do you keep it close enough to pull away at the end?
We're getting robbed. OKC has had 36 more free throws than us in the whole series. In game 3, they had 34 free throws compared to our 23. In game 4, they had 28 free throws to our 10. It's not a coincidence of why they won game 3 and 4. Yeah, our shooting has been poor at times..... but OKC is getting the calls and we're not.
The free throw disparity makes it seem like we are playing worse than we are, and them better than they are. They have been given about 30 more chances to put points on the board than we have over the last couple of games. If they called it right this series is over. I know we can beat them without russ but my concern is that they will get inside of their own heads a bit now that they have lost two and also Mike D lack of trust for the others not letting james rest.
in other words, the combined differential from expectations is about 33% in okc's favor. that's an enormous difference in a series with an OT game and a 1 point game in the final minute.
Yeah, though the expected differential calculation is pretty crude. The absence of Westbrook and even heavier reliance on 3-point shooting is not accounted for.
Houston doesn’t have even close to the same level of ballhandling and shot creation as OKC. CP3/Schroeder/Shai/Gallo is gonna get guys off balance as sh our creators at-will. All Houston has is Harden, Gordon, and chuckers. And Gordon is a flailer and a screamer on drives so it neuters his credibility. Do you actually believe a House or Covington drive on a kickout is the same as what Shai and Schroeder do as far as setting people up with dribbles, taking shots unpredictably and getting guys off-balance? And did you idiots really cite free throws during the regular season when Westbrook AND Capela, both top FTA guys after Harden, AND actually athletic enough to play through contact(meaning they’ll actually seek contact instead of avoid it like RoCo, Tuck, Rivers, and McLemore), are both gone? The rockets are launching a ton of 3’s because they don’t have creators and slashers. Their FTA makes complete sense and OKC, LOADED with ballhandling talent getting to the FT line at just a decent rate, not even crazy rate, makes sense too.
I expect the FTs to come down without westbrook in there but the Thunder are getting a ton of the little bump minimal contact whistles on the perimeter which puts the Rockets in the penalty early and then they start attacking even more. The Rockets have not gotten the same calls at all. While I expect the Rockets to not shoot as many FTs until Westbrook is back what is call a foul on one end but not on the other has not been the same at all this series. What actually bothers me more than the discrepancy in FTs is the double down effect it has on our guys. Late in the game they are saddle with 5 fouls and it makes it even harder to defend aggressively. In game 3 when Harden had 5 OKC kept attacking him because they knew he wouldn't risk fouling out late and he had to allow a lot of drives which led to points. Thats really the thunder's game plan right now without Westbrook out there. Get Harden in foul trouble and force him off the floor. You saw how atrocious this team looked in overtime without Harden and how the lead in game 4 completely collapse when he went to the bench in the 3rd. Guys like Rivers and Gordon are really going to have to step it up today and attack the basket and create more for others. They've done it before and will have to collectively do it again tonight.
Your argument was incoherent to point... They've been fouling and just haven't been getting called for it and they definitely haven't been getting the same type of fouls called on them that's been called against us.
I don't dispute that the Rockets are getting the short end of reffing in this series. But I have yet heard a good explanation of why the league hate us so much. Why do they want OKC to beat us? If there is a conspiracy, what is the reason(s) behind it?
i don't know if they hate us, but at some point the media narrative became james harden gets too many free throws. doesn't matter if jimmy butler shoots even more, doesn't matter if giannis and luka shoot the same, it became about james. now refs have decided they have to be so careful to not reward harden for figuring out that people like to reach a lot that they have gone way in the other direction and now refuse to call obvious bumps and reaches and only wait until he's really hammered. and they seem to look for any violation he commits (see the stepback travel that has probably not been called on a single person this season). he bumps someone on a drive, offensive foul, but when lebron and giannis do it, it's bully ball. he gets undercut on a 3, gotta keep the ft count down, but they see it for everyone else. while i agree there's no way they are out to promote okc, i don't think the money matters much one way or the other, so they're not going to stop screwing houston. there's simply too much evidence over the past few years that they are targeting to keep harden's and the rockets' free throw counts down. we never meet free throw expectations and often wildly underperform them against non-big market teams like okc, while teams like even the dysfunctional sixers can have a huge free throw series out of nowhere against a well-respected boston team.
Again, I know they foul. I know they foul more than us. That’s irrelevant. You’re insinuating the refereeing is bad because we are not going to the line as much as usual. they foul us less than anyone we’ve maybe ever played. it makes sense the fouls are down.
